


11:11

by jongdaed



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, OT12 - Freeform, i teared up while writing this, late fic for wyf's birthday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-10
Updated: 2016-11-10
Packaged: 2018-08-30 04:56:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8519314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jongdaed/pseuds/jongdaed
Summary: I'm four days late, but this is for wyf's birthday; happy belated birthday, my first EXO bias.





	

It's a couple of hours after Mr. Fantastic, his birthday concert, and Yifan's finally back in the hotel. It's a nice hotel, he got the penthouse suite and the night view is pretty stunning.

 

After a busy day of rushing around preparing for the concert, this is the first time he has a chance to sit down and take time to scroll through his messages. He checked his phone once or twice in the morning, but many hours have passed since then and the number of unread chats he has goes close to a hundred - it's surprising, but also very heartwarming.

 

He opens the congratulatory messages from staff first, and most of them talk about how it was nice to work with him filming his MV/drama/movie. He replies them all with a cheery _"Thank you! :-)"_ and then moves on to fellow actors and actresses he's gotten to know over the past two and a half years. Some mention their favourite memory they have of him, and others want to meet up soon to catch up. Yifan replies them accordingly, and then he moves on. By this time, there's only about 20 chats left, and he spots one from Luhan. His thumb presses on it quickly, and he reads the message.

 

 _"生日快乐，happy birthday bro! Have a good day"_ It's a short and simple message, but it makes Yifan smile. The rest of the messages are from his closest friends like Kevin Shin (before they met up for the concert) and some of his childhood friends.

 

When he's finally done, a good 45 minutes have passed and he's tired, but not so much that he wants to sleep. The night's still young, after all. Even though he isn't out partying, staying in the hotel by himself looking at Shanghai's night scenery isn't so bad.

 

And he's sitting in an armchair right in front of the glass door that leads to the balcony, but a sudden urge to stand outside has him standing up and putting on another sweater before stepping out. Winter's slowly but surely approaching, the sun set by 5:30pm and the night sky is a few shades shy of black, but all the lights keep the darkness at bay. There's a slight bite in the wind, and Yifan's glad that he wore that extra sweater. All these trivial thoughts soon fall to the side as he takes in the peaceful sight before him, and before he knows it he's started to think about how he's turned a year older.

 

It's four more years until he turns 30, and the thought's slightly unsettling - What'll be different then, or even in a year's time? He knows all too well just how much can change in a year, after all. And this opens a completely different path of thoughts, one he usually chooses not to go on, but it's his birthday and he's feeling melancholic, so sue him.

 

He thinks about Luhan's message, and his thoughts naturally turn to EXO. And as his thoughts are prone to do whenever he begins to think about EXO, he starts to wonder how he'd be if he hadn't left EXO. Since it's his birthday, he'd probably be eating cake right about now. Junmyeon would probably be the one to bring it to him, and the rest of them would be following behind closely, Jongdae and Baekhyun at the front. 

 

Imagining this makes Yifan's choke up, and there's a huge lump in his throat. He never wanted to leave EXO, he never wanted to leave his brothers, but there was no other way to get out of the company. And he hates to think of how they must view him as the enemy now, since he basically betrayed them by leaving, but he had felt so trapped. It felt, for a lack of better description, like he was wasting his life. He was happy performing, of course he was, and he had never been happier when he was with the other 11 members, even when times had been difficult and they were all tired and couldn't bring themselves to smile. This life he had now, it was so much lonelier, but it felt way more fulfilling than being in EXO would ever be. He had a say in what he wanted to do now, his opinions were actually wanted. And yet, he still second guessed himself whether he made the right decision that day in April 2014. He probably always would, especially since he still kept up with the news on EXO and watched their MVs. It was unhealthy, but every time he watched one of their MVs, he found himself wondering where he would be standing if he hadn't left.

 

But he had, and this was just his imagination. He took his phone out of his pocket to look at the time, and saw that it was 11:11pm. Yifan's not a particularly superstitious person, but he decides to make a wish anyway. It's supposed to be good luck anyway, so why not?

 

He mutters a sentence under his breath, and then looks up again, drinking in the quiet, still atmosphere once again. And then he turns and heads back inside. The words he's said linger behind in the air, a heartfelt whisper of _"I wish they'll all forgive me and understand the position I was in."_

* * *

 He takes a hot shower and changes into pajamas, and he's lying under his blanket and about to turn the lights off to sleep when he checks his phone one last time. It's 11:47pm, and he has an unread message on WeChat. He opens the app, and when he sees who it's from he's so shocked that all he can do is stare at the screen for a minute.

 

_**Zitao:**  生日快乐，哥。 (Happy birthday, brother)_

It's even shorter than Luhan's message, but he thought Zitao would never speak to him again, and there's a lump in his throat yet again. He types quickly, thanking him, and he feels so... blessed. It was a good idea not to change his phone number even after so long.

 

And then the biggest miracle happens.

 

He gets a message from an unknown number, and he usually doesn't open chats from unknown senders, but he throws caution to the wind and opens this one.

 

It's a video, close to two and a half minutes long, and it automatically downloads. The thumbnail image is a blur, so Yifan doesn't know what to expect, but when he opens it the first thing he sees is white. And then it moves downwards, revealing that it was a ceiling and all of a sudden Jongdae's face fills the screen. "Happy birthday, hyung!" The phone moves again, and he sees Sehun, Jongin and Kyungsoo all behind. They shout happy birthday too, and the smiles on their faces are so genuine it almost hurts.

 

Chanyeol's the next one to take the phone, and he's quickly joined by Minseok. "We didn't forget your birthday, we're eating cake for you." The phone turns to the dining table in their dorm (it's such a familiar sight), where Junmyeon's cutting the last few slices of the cake and Yixing's sitting there, blinking slowly as he eats. They both look up when they hear Chanyeol's voice, and they wave at the phone. Then it's snatched away, and the screen's a blur for a couple of seconds.

 

Yifan hears Baekhyun's voice before his face appears. "Hyung, happy birthday! How did you spend today?" He looks happy, and he gives his famous eyesmile before it drops and his voice becomes quieter and shakier. "We've all... missed you. A lot. Reply us, okay? When you're in Korea, or when we go to China, let's meet up. Let's talk."

 

Yifan tastes the salty water that is his tears, and he realises that he's crying. To get this video, it's almost like a dream come true. His 11:11 wish actually came true.

 

He begins to type quickly, his thumbs flying over the keyboard. He still doesn't know who the sender is, but it doesn't matter since they can all read Hangul. He thanks them all and tells them that he misses them too, and he'll tell them when he's going to Korea.

 

He presses on send, and waits for it to show that the message has been delivered, but all that shows is an error. Frowning, he clicks on it and selects resend, but his phone starts beeping and everything turns into chaos. He's thrust into complete darkness, and the only emotion he feels is confusion, until he looks around and finds himself opening his eyes to a new day.

* * *

 The realisation that it was just a dream is heartbreaking, mostly because it felt so real. But there's nothing Yifan can do except for continue on with, well, life. He turns his alarm off and the WiFi on, before getting up to brush his teeth and take another shower.

 

His phone is left on the bed, so he doesn't see the exact moment when the screen lights up with notifications that he has two unread chats from last night.


End file.
